page_title: Bethel Heights Vineyard
section_title: Vineyards
hierarchical_section_title: Bethel Heights Vineyard / Vineyards
caption_attribution_description: English: Vineyard in the Oregon wine region of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA
context_page_description: Bethel Heights Vineyard is an Oregon winery in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. Founded in 1977 by twin brothers Ted and Terry Casteel, their wives Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb, and Pat's sister Barbara Dudley, the vineyard was one of the earliest plantings in the Eola-Amity Hills region. A winery soon followed, with the first estate wines produced in 1984. Bethel Heights specializes in Pinot noir, offering several individual block and vineyard designated bottlings, but also produces wines made from Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, and Gewürztraminer.
  Today, the winery is still owned by members of the Casteel-Dudley-Webb families. The winery has earned a reputation in the region as a pioneer in "sensible and sustainable" viticulture, with Ted Casteel being one of the co-founders of the Low Input Viticulture and Enology certification program in the state of Oregon. In 1997, Bethel Heights was one of the first vineyards in Oregon to be certified Salmon-Safe, and it is a member of the Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine.
context_section_description: Bethel Heights Vineyard is a 75-acre (30 ha) site located on the west slope of the Eola Hills just northwest of Salem in the shadow of Mount Jefferson. The grapevines are planted on south facing slopes at elevations between 480–620 feet above sea level. The estate has a diverse soil profile with soils at the 300 feet elevation being among some of the oldest soils in the Willamette Valley including sandstone and marine sediment that was laid over 35 million years ago when what is today Oregon was still part of the Pacific Ocean. At 500 feet elevation, the soil is much younger with red clay and volcanic soils from previous eruptions in the Cascade Range. 
  As of 2008, Bethel Heights had 50 acres (20 ha) planted with 37 acres (15 ha) dedicated exclusively to Pinot noir that is partitioned into individual blocks. These include:
  West Block - 6 acres (2.4 ha) planted with UC-Davis (UCD) Pinot noir clone 2A and 23 that planted on its own (non-grafted) rootstock in 1977
  Flat, South and Southeast Blocks - 16.3 acres (6.6 ha) planted with UCD 4 on its own rootstock in 1979
  Shed Block - 2.2 acres (0.89 ha) of Dijon Pinot noir clone 777 grafted onto 20 yr old Chardonnay rootstock in 2000.
  Additional plantings include 5.5 acres (2.2 ha) planted with Dijon 114 and 115 on grafted rootstock in 1994 and 1996 and 6.5 acres planted with UCD 4, Dijon 115 and 777 in 2002. In 1999, Bethel Heights acquired the land just south of the main estate vineyard and began planting 20 acres of what is now known as Justice Vineyard. While considered an estate vineyard, some fruit from Justice is sold to other wineries. In addition to Pinot noir, Bethel Heights grows on their own estate Chardonnay from Wente and Dijon 76 clones as well as Pinot blanc and Pinot gris.
  Bethel Heights first started as a vineyard selling its grape to other winemakers and soon got a reputation for the high quality of their Pinot noirs. In 1983, California wine producer Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard even purchased grapes from Bethel Heights to produce an Oregon style Pinot noir that wine critic Anthony Dias Blue reviewed favorably. As the winery operation grew, Bethel Heights stopped selling its estate fruit to other wineries in 1992 and in by 1995 they were sourcing grapes (including Riesling, Pinot gris, Grüner Veltliner, and Gewürztraminer) from several well-known and well-respected vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley. These include:
  Seven Springs Vineyard - located on the eastern ridge of the Hills near Salem
  Elton Vineyard - located on the eastern slope of the Eola Hills west of Hopewell, Oregon
  Freedom Hill Vineyard - located northwest of the town of Monmouth, Oregon in the foothills of the Pacific Coast Range
  Nysa Vineyard - located in the Dundee Hills AVA
  Jessie James Vineyard - located on Walnut Hill near Amity, Oregon
  With several vineyards and designated blocks, Bethel Heights has adopted the Burgundian practice of producing several different bottlings of Pinot noirs from the individual blocks and vineyards. Terry Casteel noted to Wine Spectator that they do this because the grapes from the different blocks "...have distinct personalities, and they're complete wines." Casteel also notes that the reputation of a vineyard is enhanced by vineyard designated wine more than they would be going into a wine with a more generic Oregon wine or Willamette Valley wine label.
caption: One of the Bethel Heights estate vineyards and the Eola-Amity Hills AVA as scene from the tasting room.
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "5.1", "Image DateTime": "2012:04:28 17:09:01", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "186", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "670", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5728", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/754", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:28 17:09:01", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:28 17:09:01", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1711/179", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "6938/853", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1295, 967, 699, 696]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1936", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard"}